Poinsettia plant named Yuletide

ABSTRACT

A Poinsettia plant named Yuletide originated from grafting the cultivar Super Rochford, known for its excellent branching, to the cultivar Merrimaker, known for its color intensity and bract quantity. Yuletide is characterized by its intense rich red bract color, excellent branching, compact habit, early flower initiation, non-splitting cyathia which are retained under stress, and its tolerance to conditions of low light and high temperature.

The present invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar ofPoinsettia plant, botanically known as Euphorbia pulcherrima, andreferred to by the cultivar name Yuletide. The new cultivar wasdeveloped by me by grafting the excellent branching type cultivar SuperRochford (unpatented) to the non-branching cultivar Merrimaker (U.S.Plant Pat. No. 6,097) in an attempt to transfer the branching habit ofSuper Rochford to Merrimaker. The graft was successful, resulting in thenew cultivar having the desired branching habits of Super Rochford whileretaining the desirable characteristics of Merrimaker of bract quantityand color intensity. Asexual reproduction of stem cuttings has shownthat the unique features of this new Poinsettia are stabilized and arereproduced true to type in successive propagations.

The following characteristics distinguish the new Poinsettia from bothits parent cultivars and other cultivated Poinsettia of this type knownand used in the floriculture industry. Comparisons are made to theparent cultivars.

1. When 5 or more nodes are left after a pinch (apical tip removal)Yuletide will develop a shoot from each node left like Super Rochford,while Merrimaker will develop a shoot only from the upper 2 or 3 nodes.

2. Yuletide plants are shorter than Merrimaker plants after pinching ofsimilar sized plants because there is less apical dominance in thebranched type. Thus, all shoots develop to the same height instead of 2or 3 shoots growing very tall. Super Rochford is taller than Yuletideeven though it also branches from every node.

3. Yuletide has slightly lighter green leaves than Merrimaker and SuperRochford.

4. Bract coloration of Yuletide is a shade lighter red than Merrimakerbut still is a very intense rich red. It is a much deeper red than SuperRochford.

5. Yuletide appears to be more tolerant to low light levels and hightemperature conditions of the average home as leaves do not yellow anddrop like Merrimaker under these conditions when the plant is keptmoist. This characteristic is similar to Super Rochford which hasexcellent foliage retention.

6. All other significant characteristics of Yuletide are similar toMerrimaker, such as early flower initiation under natural short days, nosigns of epinasty (leaf petiole twisting), similar shaped leaves andbracts, retention of the cyathia under stress conditions, and cyathiaswhich do not split.

7. Yuletide appears to be less susceptible to delay of flower budinitiation under high night temperature conditions (above 21°), likeMerrimaker, while Super Rochford shows heat delay at these temperatures.

The accompanying colored photograph illustrates in top perspective viewthe overall appearance of Yuletide, showing the colors as true as it isreasonably possible to obtain in a colored reproduction of this type.The photo was taken in December, 1988.

The following is a detailed description of my new Poinsettia cultivarbased on plants produced under commercial practices in Ashtabula, Ohiounder greenhouse conditions. Color references are made to The RoyalHorticultural Society Colour Chart except where general terms ofordinary dictionary significance are used.

Origin: Graft induced change from non-branching to branching of theoriginal cultivar Merrimaker.

Propagation:

(A) Type cutting.--Stems 5 to 6 cm in length.

(B) Time to root.--14 days at 21° C. summer, 18 days at 21° C. winter.

(C) Rooting habit.--Abundant and fibrous.

Plant Description:

(A) Form.--Upright; when apical meristem is removed (pinching) leaving5-6 nodes above the soil line of pot, generally all lateral shoots willemerge and develop.

(B) Habit of growth.--Strong, thick stems that hold the bracts up forgood flowering display. Growth is vigorous, and depending on schedulingsystem, plants may need an application of a chemical growth regulatorsuch as Cycocel. Nodal connection of stems is strong enough to hold upbracts without breaking.

(C) Foliage Description.--Leaves are alternate and borne on 5-6 cm longpetioles that are purple-red in color. (1) Size: Mature leaves are 13 to14 cm long by 9 to 10 cm wide at broadest area. (2) Shape: Leaf shape isvariable from ovate to hastate with an acute apex and rounded base. (3)Texture: Upper surface glabrous, lower glabrous and rugose because ofprotruding veins. (4) Margin: Entire, but some leaves are large lobed.(5) Color: Young foliage, top side 144A, under side 144A. Maturefoliage, top side 137A, under side 137C.

Flowering Description:

(A) Flowering Habits.--Earlier flowering than most commercial cultivars,apparently having a longer critical day length for flower initiation.Under controlled day length, development time is approximately 10 weeks.Flowers earlier, like Merrimaker, than most commercial cultivars undernatural day length in Ohio, but takes approximately the same time todevelop when tested under exact controlled day lengths with othercommercial cultivars. The characteristic of earlier flower initiation isof significant commercial importance.

(B) Natural flowering season.--November 15 to 25 under Ohio conditions.

(C) Cyathia description.--Are very stress tolerant, remaining in theinvolucre for a considerable time under low light, high temperatureconditions; severe drying causes them to drop; involucre is almost flatwith only slight reflexing.

(D) Cyathia borne.--Stay closely clustered for a considerable timewithout growing apart (splitting); flowering can be initiated any timeof the year by controlling day length; cyathia will continue to initiateuntil day length is greater than approximately 13 hours and temperatureis above 27° C.

(E) Quantity of cyathia.--Is highly dependent on cultural practices andvaries from minimum of 8 to 10 to as many as 50; cyathia will continueto develop from November-April resulting in the large number

(F) Bracts.--(1) Shape: ovate; mature 11 to 12 cm long; 8 to 9 cm wideon a pinched plant; petioles 2 cm long. (2) Color at maturity: deeperthan 42A but not as deep red as 45B. Young bract: 42A. Under side: youngbracts red with green areas; mature 47B, veins red. (3) Number ofbracts: up to 50 or more depending on growing conditions; bract size canvary with growing conditions, whether the plant was pinched, and use ofgrowth regulator; the last true leaves tend to become red.

(G) Reproductive organs.--(1) Stamens: numerous. (a) Anther shape:oblong, yellow in color with red tint. (b) Filament color: red. (c)Pollen color: yellow. (2) Pistils: (a) Stigma shape: forked,reddish-purple in color. (b) Style color: whitish green. (c) Ovaries: 3,celled, 4 mm, yellow green in color, below receptive stigma. PG,7 (3)Nectar cups: 1 or 2 on each cyathia; yellow in color with tint of red;nectar is usually readily available on maturing cyathia.

Disease resistance: There is an apparent lack of preference to whitefly, as heavily infested adjacent cultivars did not cause buildup of eggmasses on Yuletide.

I claim:
 1. A new and distinct cultivar of Poinsettia plant namedYuletide, as illustrated and described.